"Early Access" games - Should you pay for them?

So the topic of early access games has been a hot topic for quite a while now.

The basic premise of early access games is to allow the players access to the game before it's complete. One of the reasons that game developers do this is to get a feel for how big the player base is going to be, so they can sort out servers etc. Another reason is with a larger player base it is much easier and faster to spot bugs or errors in the game before it goes out for its full launch. This has been going on for a while, and many developers have been doing open beta testing to help fish out any bugs before going on sale. I have absolutely no issue with free open beta testing. My issue is when developers start charging for early access games.

Charging for early access games has been a hotly contested topic in the gaming world for a while, and while I can see the benefits for the developers, I think it is fundamentally bad for the consumers. As a developer, if you haven't quite got the funds to fully complete development, releasing your game for early access could get you the boot in revenue that you need to finish production and complete your game. I understand the appeal. I really do. And if everything goes according to plan there would be no issue, the players would get a complete game and have got it early, and the developers would get that last injection of cash to help speed development to the finish.

However what is happening increasingly often is games are being released as early access games, and are never finished by the developers. Some of the worst examples of this are: War Z (now being sold as Infestation: Survivor Stories), Towns, and Spacebase DF-9. These games all charged for early access under the promise that the games would have a multitude of extra features added and development on the games would continue, and when they started raking in the cash, they quit. They took all of the players' money and then either stopped development completely or didn't produce a game with all the features they promised. This is the risk that every single customer is taking whenever they buy an early access title.

This isn't even just an issue with small independent developers. This problem can be found throughout every reach of the game development sector. The developers of Spacebase DF-9, Double Fine Productions, were a respectable gaming developer having already released a hugely popular game in Psychonaughts. However when they realised the player base that they had playing the early access version of Spacebase DF-9 they decided that the game must be good enough and stopped development.

To find out more on why Double Fine Productions stopped development CLICK HERE.

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying that every early access game is going to be a disappointment in the end. There are multitudes of games that have been released in early access and have gone on to complete development fulfilling all promises along the way. However you can never tell which of the early access titles are going to be the next massive disappointment.

One of the most recent examples I can think of for a game that has let down a lot of its early access buyers is RUST. Now RUST is a hugely popular game with a massive player base and has clearly benefited hugely from being released in early access. However, there are numerous reviews on the steam page that show the exact risk you run from buying an incomplete game. So many people bought this game with the expectation that is was going to be an open world, multiplayer, survival game with aspects of PvP involved. In the beginning, that is what the game was. There was a strong emphasis on the survival aspect and the PvP aspect was more of an undertone to the game, or more of a late game aspect. However as development continued, and more players began buying the game, the player base, and development began to shift a lot more towards the PvP side of the game. Raiding became a lot more important, and the survival aspect became more avoiding other players rather than gathering the resources needed to survive the wild. A number of features have been removed from RUST which were very popular with players. The Exp. system has recently been taken away, and many of the tough to kill enemies have also been removed. This had led to swarms of players who bought RUST on steam early access, looking to get a refund.

PCgamesn have a great article that goes into more detail about that issue HERE.

So what I'm trying to say is: Don't buy an early access game on the expectation of enjoying the finished product. If you want to buy an early access game, do it based on the game that you are going to be able to play immediately, and understand that that game can change dramatically, or even never be totally finished. If you're fine paying what they're asking and playing what the game is at the time of purchase, then go right ahead. But if the game becomes something different then it's your own money you've wasted, and that's the risk you run by buying games in early access. I personally will never buy an early access game, especially when they're charging full price for an incomplete game.

If you've had a bad experience with buying early access games, let me know in the comments, or tweet to me @PansGaming.

That's it for now. Be sure to look out for my next YouTube gamer interview on Thursday!
See you then!
Pans.